PennDOT begins four-year I-95 construction project

A four-year, $211.7 million project designed to rebuild 1.5 miles of I-95 is set to begin Monday, June 9 and wrap up roughly four years from now in the summer of 2018.

The project – the second largest construction contract in PennDOT history – is a next step in PennDOT’s plans to rebuild the I-95/Girard Avenue Interchange and three miles of I-95, from Race Street to just south of Allegheny Avenue. The work will both address critical repairs on the existing, aging infrastructure and widen the I-95 corridor to four travel lanes in each direction.

The work beginning Monday will rebuild the northbound portion of I-95 between the Girard Avenue and Allegheny Avenue interchanges in Philadelphia.

During construction, three travel lanes will remain open in each direction – though drivers will experience overnight lane closures as crews paint new traffic lines and set concrete barriers next week.

Related projects

This new work will merge into PennDOT’s exiting half-mile construction zone between I-676 and Columbia Ave.

Two related projects are already underway. Since late 2011, crews have been rebuilding and improving local surface streets, replacing bridges and relocating major utility lines near the Girard Ave Interchange. That $91.2 million project is scheduled to be complete in the fall of 2015.

PennDOT is also in the midst of a $39 million project to widen and rebuild 1,200 feet of I-95 just south of the Girard Ave Interchange and to replace the bridges over Shackamaxon Street, Marlborough Street and Columbia Ave. This work should be complete next summer.

About the author

Christine Fisher, Transportation reporter

From 2012-2014 Christine covered transportation, writing about everything from pedestrian concerns to bicycle infrastructure, bridges, trail networks, public transit and more. Her favorite assignments sent her bushwhacking through Philadelphia’s yet-to-be-cleared bike trails, catching a glimpse of SEPTA’s inner workings or pounding the pavement to find out what pedestrians really think. Christine also covered community news for Eyes on the Street, where her work ranged from food sovereignty to public art and urban greening. She first joined PlanPhilly in fall 2011 as an intern through a partnership with Temple University’s Philadelphia Neighborhoods website.